![]() ![]() The experience of having journeyed with these characters will forever remain etched in memory.An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. Due to Mandel’s magnificent penmanship the narrative has now turned full circle. Despite his death in the opening chapter, Arthur remains a central and defining figure throughout, drawing all characters and events together his list of treasured things parallels the list of things at the beginning of the novel that have been lost since the world ended. In contrast to The Travelling Symphony’s message of creation and hope, the prophet as founder of the cult, is an extremist and fundamentalist, representing fanaticism and destruction the sense of powerlessness that he creates in his coerced followers is echoed throughout the novel in the impact of the pandemic. Lear alienates himself from Cordelia, the daughter who loves him the most Arthur, too, is filled with regret as he realises that he has been chasing fame and fortune rather than focusing on love and friendship. Their self-absorption results in them discarding and hurting those most dear to them it is only when facing death that they come to realise the futility of their lives and ambitions, and experience true regret for their actions. Arthur, playing King Lear, is uncannily like him they are both obsessed with power and ego, constantly seeking affirmation from others. The characters are well-defined and authentic it is through the sub-plots that Mandel allows one insight into their internal conflicts. An evocative and tangible sense of urgency and panic is intertwined with tendrils of hope for the future. It shocks, it nudges one’s conscience, it propels one to consider one’s own mortality and painful nostalgia for a ‘lost world’ but it never shrouds the truth in platitudes or pretensions. ![]() ![]() It is harrowing and haunting in its tragic and brutal integrity of reality whilst synchronously portraying the majestic beauty of all that mankind treasures: human interaction, the virtuosity of the multitudinous guises of artistic performance, planet Earth and its opulent diversity of flora and fauna. One is enraptured from beginning to end with imagery, action and suspense exploding like kaleidoscopic fireworks in this narrative spanning the most woeful spectrum of human experience: loss, oppression, regret, isolation, mortality, terror, confusion, and a myriad of potent emotional experiences that never fail to elicit a lasting interaction. Such is also highlighted in the reference pertaining to a quotation from ‘Star Trek’: “…because survival is insufficient …” regret and searching for that which has been lost are dominant themes. Written in the third person narrative with numerous flashbacks and flash forwards, it is undoubtedly a dystopian masterpiece that not only entertains but prompts repeated reflection upon one's perception of the true meaning of life. ![]() This post-apocalyptic novel is incredibly and powerfully complex with parallels steadfastly embedded in Shakespeare's tragedy ‘King Lear’, Miranda's work of science fiction ‘Station Eleven’ and one’s own recent experience of the Covid pandemic each section is deftly woven into the next, thus ensuring that we never lose sight of the narratives running alongside each other. ![]()
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